All future Tesla cars will be self-driving, says Elon Musk

All future Tesla cars will be self-driving, says Elon Musk

Rhiannon Williams

Published:1:22 pmOctober 20, 2016

All new Tesla cars will come equipped with the necessary hardware to drive free from human intervention, the company has announced.
The electric car firm said vehicles in production would feature “the hardware needed for full self-driving capability”, including 12 sensors, eight cameras, a radar and inbuilt computer.
While the self-driving equipment will be worth $8,000 (£6,525), the software required for the cars to drive entirely autonomously is still be developed, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said.
Tesla’s Model S and Model X electric cars will be the first models manufactured with the hardware, which will gather information in a “shadow mode” while the software is being developed.
The two models currently have an Autopilot feature, which automatically brakes, changes lanes, and drives at speeds consistent with other traffic. Tesla said Autopilot would be temporarily disabled while the company tested its new systems.
(Photo: Getty) A Tesla showroom
A man died while during a Model S in Autopilot mode in May. An investigation from safety regulators found the man had been speeding when the Tesla ran into a tractor trailer which was crossing its path.
The Model S currently retails in the UK for £48,000, while the Model X costs £76,500 to buy outright. The Model 3 car, which is currently in development, has a starting price of $35,000. UK pricing will be announced next year.
Mr Musk said that a Tesla car should be able to drive entirely unaided from Los Angeles to New York by the end of 2017, and claimed the company’s autonomous driving system was twice as safe as a human driver.
An autonomous UK
A self-driving car was tested in public for the first time in the UK earlier this month on the streets of Milton Keynes, reaching speeds of up to 15mph.
Fully self-driving cars are not expected to become a common sight on British roads in the next decade.
A consultation on changes to the highway code and insurance rules and regulations was launches by ministers earlier this year, in an effort to prepare the country for the arrival of autonomous cars.
Question marks currently remain over who bears the responsibility if a self-driving car is involved in a crash – the car manufacturer, or the human present in the vehicle.